With youth unemployment in Toronto over 20 per cent, some agencies are engaged in efforts to open doors to jobs for young people

For the first time in a quarter century, Toronto’s job-creation performance is humming along, on par with the rest of the province and country. But the rosy stats do not tell the whole story.

Toronto’s overall, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped 3 percentage points in the last year alone. Employment numbers are finally back to the levels before the great recession of the late 1980s. For the third straight year, the city saw positive job growth.

Economic development director, Mike Williams, was in the middle of singing the city’s praises as a magnet for jobs, when his thoughts turned to the employment prospects for immigrants and youths. His language changed.

Alas, in the midst of this economic prosperity, one in five Toronto youth is unemployed.

If you are young and an immigrant, the prospects are even bleaker.

Vital Signs figures show that Toronto’s youth unemployment rate is averaging close to 21 per cent when the city’s overall rate is hovering near 7 per cent.

Vital Signs is an annual checkup of Toronto’s economic, social and physical health, and is based on a number of indicators, statistics and studies. The aim is to inspire civic engagement and focus the public debate, so governments, agencies and people can direct resources to areas of need.

This year’s report says:

“In 2009, the provincial youth unemployment rate (15-24 year-olds) skyrocketed from 11.1 per cent to over 18 per cent (in one year). In 2012, the Toronto youth unemployment rate averaged 20.75 per cent, and for recent immigrant youth in Canada less than 5 years, it was 29 per cent.”

While the mayor and others last month rushed to herald the “absolutely phenomenal” job performance of “economic powerhouse” Toronto, the city’s youth continue to languish.

Long-term data shows that youth are very hard to place in the city’s job market.

Especially worrisome is the fact that it gets harder to find young people jobs, even though they are smarter and more educated than at any time.

Young people keep missing the gravy train.

According to figures compiled by Vital Signs, the youth unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in 1989. Within two years, the number ballooned to about 15 per cent, in the aftermath of the recession. It more than tripled to 19 per cent by 1992, before peaking at close to 20 per cent in 1993.

Since then, the Toronto economy has been on a slow comeback. But youth employment prospects remain dim. The youth unemployment rate has not fallen to single digits since 1990. And now, at more than 20 per cent, it is at an all-time high.

A number of local agencies are engaged in sterling efforts to open doors to youth looking for jobs.

One innovative approach is the Toronto Sport Leadership Program. Six organizations have partnered to help students become certified to land jobs in sports and recreation.

In eight years of operation, more than 1,000 students have been certified, many of them working at camps, pools and sport programs. As many as 300 spots are open this year in 11 disciplines.

By now, many have heard about the Building Trades terrific program that taps young people, train them to consider the construction trades, give them apprenticeship positions and provide opportunities they would normally never have.

Called Hammer Heads, it is an effective, but limited response, to the harsh reality. Many more industries need to adopt similar programs.

Steve Shallhorn is chair of the Toronto Community Benefits Network, an initiative aimed at linking residents with jobs created in the numerous infrastructure projects underway. While not directed solely at youth, young people and immigrants have an even better shot at jobs than they would by going through the normal employment processes.

On behalf of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Shallhorn is in talks with Metrolinx to deliver such jobs when the agency builds the major multi-billion-dollar transit projects, such as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT over the next two decades.

Ahead of awarding the contracts, Metrolinx and the union are drafting a community benefits agreement that would entrench the jobs in the contracts as they are awarded.

“We’re working with Metrolinx to build what we call a jobs pipeline,” Shallhorn said. “It begins with recruitment in the community. We’ll assess the needs, provide training and place them on the jobs on the Crosstown line.”

As many as 500 such jobs, for labourers, carpenters, iron workers, plumbers, electrical workers and the like, could be up for grabs.

The agreement aims to target internationally trained professionals, immigrants who have worked abroad and have run into problems around accreditation now they are here. They would compete for jobs in finance, design, administration and engineering.

The agreement would open up the jobs window to suppliers and entrepreneurs who are not normally aware of the opportunities until it is too late to bid.

Small steps in a long journey for our youth.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.